Committee on Energy, Industry and Labor, Economic Development and
Small Business then Finance .]

A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new chapter, designated §5I-1-1, §5I-1-2 and
§5I-1-3, all relating to creating the “Keep Jobs in West
Virginia Act;” prohibiting public agencies from awarding
contracts to vendors who perform that work outside the United
States; requiring vendors to certify that no work will be
performed outside of the United States; defining terms; making
findings; and providing remedies.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new chapter, designated §5I-1-1, §5I-1-2 and
§5I-1-3, all to read as follows:

CHAPTER 5I. KEEP JOBS IN WEST VIRGINIA ACT.

ARTICLE 1. KEEP JOBS IN WEST VIRGINIA.

§5I-1-1. Findings.

The Legislature finds that:

(1) Public agencies procure services in part through contracts
with private vendors;

(2) Increasing, private vendors carry out these services, or
subcontract or otherwise procure these services, from a location
outside the United States;

(3) Such international outsourcing exacerbates unemployment
and workforce dislocation and deprives West Virginia residents of
job opportunities, including industries and jobs this state has
expended development assistance resources to attract;

(4) International outsourcing erodes state and local revenues
by drawing jobs and income away from the state; and

(5) International outsourcing additionally may provide less
privacy protections for state residents whose personal information
may, in the course of service delivery, be transmitted to locations
outside the United States.

§5I-1-2. Definitions.

As used in this chapter, the following terms have the meanings

ascribed to them in this section, unless the context in which the
term is used clearly requires another meaning:

“Developmental assistance” means any form of public
assistance, including tax expenditures, made for the purpose of
stimulating economic development of a corporation, industry,
geographic jurisdiction or any other sector of the state’s economy,
including, but not limited to, industrial development bonds,
training grants, loans, loan guarantees, enterprise zones,
empowerment zones, tax increment financing, fee waivers, land price
subsidies, infrastructure whose principal beneficiary is a single
business or defined group of businesses at the time it is built or
improved, matching funds, tax abatements, tax credits and tax
discounts of every kind, including corporate franchise, personal
income, sales and compensating use, raw materials, real property,
job creation, individual investment, excise, utility, inventory,
accelerated depreciation and research and development tax credits
and discounts.

(2) “Public agency” or “agency” means the State of West
Virginia, its departments, agencies, boards, commissions, and
institutions, and all units and political subdivisions thereof,
including local school districts.

§5I-1-3. General provisions.

The following provisions apply to all public agency contracts,
all local contracts funded with state dollars, except where it
would be inconsistent with current state law, and state-funded
development assistance:

(1) Public agencies may not award a contract or development
assistance to a vendor, bidder, contractor, subcontractor or
applicant for development assistant that performs the work at a
site outside the United States. Nothing in this bill may be
construed to supersede or replace existing requirements in place
for development assistant programs.

(2) Each vendor submitting a bid or contract to provide
services and all development assistance applicants shall certify
that the services covered by the bid, contract or development
assistance will be performed in the United States.

(3) If, during the life of the contract, the vendor,
contractor, subcontractor or development assistance recipient
shifts overseas work that is funded under the contract, the public
agency shall terminate the contract for noncompliance. In
addition, the vendor, contractor, subcontractor or development
assistance recipient shall forfeit penalties to the public agency
or local government in an amount equal to the amount paid by the
public agency or local government for the percentage of work that
was performed with workers outside the United States. Any
contractor, subcontractor, vendor, bidder or development assistance
recipient that violates the above sections may not receive any
public agency contracts or development assistant development
assistance for a period of five years from the date of
determinations thereof.

(4) The public agency is entitled to bring a civil action in
state or federal court to compel enforcement under this chapter.
The court shall award reasonable attorney’s fees and costs to the
public agency.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to create “Keep Jobs in
West Virginia Act.” The bill prohibits public agencies from
awarding contracts to vendors who perform that work outside the
United Sates. The bill requires vendors to certify that no work
will be performed outside of the United States. The bill also makes
findings, defines terms and provides remedies.